Electric heating fabric



P. E. CHARLES.

ELECTRIC HEATING FABRIC. I APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1920. RENEWED mac. so. 1921.

1,419,613. I 'PatentedJuneB, 1922.

" [Wm Ton UNITED STATES rmznns a cnnnnns, or vIe'ronwLLn, CALIFORNIA, assrenon To '3.

or LOS enemas, CALIFORNIA.

PATENT OFFICE.

n. CHARLES,

anaemic n'nurine FABRIC.

Application filed Kay 8, 1920, Serial No. 378,626.

. To all whom it may concern:

clearly show the invention.

Be it known that I, PHYLLIS E. CHARLES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Victorville, in the county of San Bernardino and State of California, have invented a new and useful Electric Heating Fabric, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a materialor fabric so constructed that an electric current may be sent through it so as to heat any body to which the fabric may be applied, and an object of the invention, in general, is to so construct the fabric that there will be minimum liability of breakage of the resistance wire.

In many 'prior fabrics of this nature the resistance wire is fastened in straight lines on the cloth, and in practice, the resistance wire becomes broken in one or more places by reasonof the fabric being bent or folded 1n use.

\ To avoid such breakage of the resistance wire, this invention provides for the form ing of the resistance wire into coils, and the coils are preferably provided, with a flexible or pliant core. The resistance wire employed may be bare or covered, as desired.

- By forming coils of the resistance wire upon a flexible core, when the fabric is bent it merely forces the turns of the coil at one side adjacent the bend toward one another and at the opposite side forces the turns away from one another and there is no sharp bend produced in the wire, as results when the wire is laid flat in or on the goods.

Another object is to provide an inexpensively constructed heating fabric and one which isso flexible that it may be formed q into garments that can be Worn with the same comfort as those of the ordinary type.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:

Figure 1 is a broken plan view of a piece of fabric constructed in accordancewith the provisions of this invention.

Fig. 2 is an'enlarged view of a fragment of Fig. 1, the parts being magnified so as to Fig. 3 is a magnified View ofa portion of the resistance element and-its flexible or p11- ant core.

. Fig. ,4 is an enlarged sectional elevation 'on line indicated by act-m, Fig 1.

Fig; 5 is a fragmental enlarged cross-sew Specification of Letters Iatent.

ing covered or electrically insulated.

There is provided a flexible body 1 comprising interwoven threads 2 of cotton or I other suitable material. The body 1 also comprises aflexible or pliant core 3, around which is wound a resistance element Lin the form of a helical coil. The core 3 forms a.

flexible support for the coil and may be constructed of any material suited to the purpose, its essential characteristic being flexibility or pliancy. For example, the core 3 maybe formed ofcord made up of one or more strands 5. \Vhen a plurality of strands is employed, said strands may be twisted together the same as in the ordinary cord or string used in tying bundles.

/ The core 3 may be fastened to the body 1 in any suitable manner. For example it may b attached to the threads 2 by stitches a.

The stitches a may be formed in any suitable manner and, in the drawings, said stitches are shown in zigzag formation, passing from side to side of the core 3 and through the cloth l'so as to firmly sew the core 3 and the coil 4 to the cloth. a The stitches may, ,if desired, pass through the core. In the drawings the core and its coil extend back and forth across the cloth, but it is understood that any other suitable arrangement thereof may be made without departing from the broader phases of the invention.

The electric cord, not shown, carrying the electric current is connected in any suitable manner to the ends of the resistance element 4 so as to energize said element.

The fabric described above may .be constructed'in any desired size and may be used in the form shown in the drawings, that is as a straight piece, or the fabric may be formed into blankets, robes or other wearing apparel, or the fabric may be formed into pads for application to any particular portion of the body.

In manufacturing the fabric, it is preferable to wind the resistance wire on the flexible core to produce the assembly shown in Fig. 3. This, for convenience, may be termed a'flexible resistance unit. This unit 7 is .then sewed in place, or it may be otherwise fastened to the threads 2 by any suitable means.

In F g. 5 the reslstance w1re has -a covering indicated at 6', and it is to be understood that, in practice, either covered wire or bare wire may be employed in the construction of the flexible resistance unit.

In actual use, it may be assumed, for purposes of illustration, that the fabric is so ent as to bend a portion of the flexible resistance unit into the position indicated in broken lines I) in Fig. 3. When such bending occurs it is clear that the turns of the resistance coil at one side thereof will be" ,be in the plane of the fabric or in planes at angles to the plane of the fabric, the bending effect upon the metal fibers :of the reslstance wire is comparatively small.

Of minor importance is the fact that when the resistance wire is constructed, as above described, the resistance element need not cover as much area to obtain the same amount of heat as in prior heating-fabrics where the resistance wire is laid flat or straight; the heating efiect may be increased over that of the old constructions by placing the different passes of the resistance element as close to one another as in the old fabrics, thus making the length of resistance wire used in any given unit of area greater than in the old constructions.

It will be clear from the foregoing description that the invention contemplates inl corporatin in a pliable fabric a coil of resistance wire, that the specific construction for effecting this is illustrated and described to inform those skilled in theart pertaining to this invention as to the construction having the advantages set forth above, and that the invention also includes such changes and "modifications as may lie Within the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

In an electric-heating fabric, a Woven textile body, a resistance unit comprising a pliant core and a resistance wire helically wound in an open coil on said core, the resistance unit lying against one face of the, textile body, and stitches in zigzag formation, passing from side to side of the resistance unit and through the textile body to fasten the resistance unit in place, the different passes of the resistance unit being spaced from one another to permit ready flexing of the fabric.

Signed at Los Angeles; California, this 21st day of April, 1920.

PHYLLIS E. CHARLES Witnesses:

ISABEL M. TIBBE'r'rs, B. R. CHARLES. 

